The Viking newspaper has always been a crazy, fun, and challenging extracurricular activity for me. I have had the privilege to be on staff all four years during my stay at North High School. There are many great people involved in this paper; there are a lot of things that happen while creating The Viking which many people do not know about. I wanted my last newspaper article to share some of my experiences and my journey of being on staff.
In 2004 I was a freshman who, with the exception of one person, knew absolutely no one at North. Even in my first year, I wanted to be involved in some kind of activity at school. I was not an athlete, or a musician, or drawn to student government. I loved writing and was interested in graphic design, so I decided to give the newspaper a chance.
I was not familiar with writing news articles, so I signed up to do the layout and design of the paper. During the first month or so, Mr. Brown taught me how to use the editing software. This was back when every student’s schedule was packed, and study halls were unheard of. I had to stay after my 8th period class to learn the program, and I helped with the layout that year.
During December of that year, I tried to write my first news article. It spoke about a retired FBI agent who came to North to speak about the JFK assassination and his conspiracy theories. Because of a lack of news articles that issue, my article made it on the front page. I was really excited [even though it happened by default], and knew that I wanted to write more articles for the paper.
The 2004 editions of The Viking had a diverse assortment of articles. Controversial issues were the beginning of the 10 day rule, Activity Day combining all assemblies and events into one afternoon, and teachers being laid off. News articles included the Bush/Kerry election, the Iraq war, and general happenings at North. We actually had sports articles - almost 2 or 3 per issue. There were many conflicts among the classes, especially the upperclassmen and the freshmen. Many articles presented arguments that were debated back and forth, in each issue of the paper. It seemed many people paid attention to the paper, and tons of students voiced their opinions about the issues brought up.
My sophomore year, 2005, was also a very strong year for the paper. This was the year that The Viking became available to view free online. [The Viking is always viewable at http://my.highschooljournalism.org/oh/akron/nhs]. I continued to help with the layout, and the design of the paper was also changed. This was the year that I took newspaper as an actual class, and learned more about writing articles properly. It made me understand the paper more and I became more interested in journalism. I wrote a review of the school play, Grease, and also about an event I went to.
For me, the highlight of this year on staff was my first trip to the Northeast Ohio Scholastic Press Association [NOSPA] newspaper competition at Kent State in the spring. Each fall, the editors of The Viking choose articles from the paper and submit them into this competition. They pull them from every section of the paper, like news articles, editorials, cartoons, ads, features, sports, photos, and more. The overall paper is also judged. The Viking is certainly not the fanciest newspaper at the competition, but its content is exceptional enough to bring home awards each year. In addition to these awards, this event also holds day-of competitions, and provides many interesting speakers involved in newspapers and schools.
The articles in 2005 were just as diverse as the year before. The paper began to lack sports articles, but made up for it in school news, editorials, and photos. School news included the end of the PTA, a new yearbook advisor, school graffiti, and the Issue 1 levy. There were many controversial topics like religion, gay teens, disrespect, smoking, and rape.
2006 was a year of massive and intense changes for North High School. Mr. Weigle was no longer our principal, new students and teachers came to our school from Central-Hower, and rules were enforced with an iron fist. The newspaper reflected these changes and many articles revealed students’ comments and opinions.
As a junior, I added editor to the list of positions I held on staff. I enjoyed reading the newspaper articles before they were printed, and helping to improve them. My articles this year included: the blood drive, students volunteering, DECA, student jobs, and students’ future careers. I also had the chance to return to the NOSPA event at Kent State in the spring.
As previously mentioned, the 2006 edition of The Viking focused heavily on students, school news, school issues, and changes at North. There were multiple articles about a new school levy after the previous levy failed. Some articles focused on the good changes, like new classes, and improvements to the orchestra and band. Other articles spoke about the Student BLT, Principal Veasley, and our education in general. We had a “satire of The Viking” written by one of our own staff members, a tribute and goodbye to Mr. Herceg, and MANY editorials about teachers and rules. Overall, The Viking staff members captured the chaos, confusion, and changes at our school through their articles, photos and comics.
2007 to 2008 was truly the best of times and the worst of times for the Viking newspaper. I was very much honored to receive the position of Editor-in-Chief. I wrote about North’s Debate Club, collaborated on an article about the Akron roundtable, wrote about senior activities, DECA, and helped in writing a staff editorial about the OGT. I also took a few photos, designed an ad, and the current header for the paper. I did not attend the annual newspaper competition, but the staff was very victorious. I was excited to hear that our OGT editorial was noticed and won a Superior award.
This year’s articles focused on even more changes to North High, and had a few very controversial political cartoons. There were articles about schedule changes, new rules, issues with the staff, school event cancellations, and ID badges.
One of the biggest events that happened to The Viking and its staff occurred after the political cartoon in Issue 3. The arguments that arose were exaggerated and embellished, yet the uproar forced The Viking to be reviewed prior to being printed. The morale of the newspaper staff hit a low point.
But the year had its good points, too. We had some very positive articles which included: improvements to the school store, peer mediation, Michelle Obama’s visit to North, wrestling, wins at DECA, and great reviews of activity days. Our newspaper was extremely successful at the NOSPA competition, and we even got to show off our new Viking newspaper T-shirts. In general, The Viking prevailed and lasted to the end of the school year.
There is one more part of the newspaper that I have not yet spoken about. That would be our remarkable advisor, Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown has been the advisor of The Viking since 1995. This year will be his last year as advisor of the paper. “It’s time for new blood to flow through the veins of The Viking,” said Brown.
His commitment of 13 years to the paper has been an exceptional one, but he is ready to explore other things. “It will be interesting to see who advises it next year and in what direction he or she takes the newspaper,” said Brown.
Our staff members contribute the articles, photos, and other materials that go into the paper, but the paper would never exist in a finished form if it weren’t for Mr. Brown. The list of things he had to do for the paper is probably longer than this article.
He was responsible for teaching and advising each staff member, holding weekly meetings, organizing the entire web site for The Viking, finishing the unfinished layouts, organizing everything for our competitions, managing ads, printing the paper, and much, much more. I know each staff member is very grateful and had a fun time working with him.
When asked about his reflections on the paper, Brown said, “I will truly miss getting to work with students...good students...on a more personal level than is achieved in the regular classroom. Outside of the classroom students are often more relaxed and have more fun while still doing something worthwhile and positive. On the other hand, I am very much looking forward to the extra time I will have both during the school day and outside of school.
“Advising the newspaper and maintaining its web site takes an incredible amount of time that most people probably don’t realize. I’ve been fortunate to have some very dedicated students on staff who go above and beyond what’s required of them to ensure North has one of the most respected school
newspapers in the city and in Ohio. The 146 awards The Viking has won in competition since North started competing annually at KSU in 1996 speaks volumes to their hard work and talent.”
To all the members on the newspaper staff: it was a pleasure to work with all of you—the ones I saw every week at the meetings, and the ones I have never seen before in my life! Working on the paper with everybody was fun. You guys better get one last laugh at our staff photos on the web site before they are gone.
It is not clear what the future holds for The Viking. I can only hope that strength, integrity and uniqueness of everyone involved in the paper continues on. My years on staff have taught me it is OK to speak out about what you believe in, what you think is right, what affects you, and what you care about. I hope the future staff members never give up the fight to speak about these things. The content of the paper from the last four years has been created with intellect and emotion, and has affected its readers in numerous ways. To quote Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned people will forget what you said… people will forget what you did… but people will never forget how you made them feel.”